Wine drinkers in favour of lower alcohol levels

October 2, 2009- Decanter, Stuart Peskett

Nearly half of UK wine drinkers said they would buy a wine with an alcohol level of just 9% abv – provided that taste is not compromised – a new survey has revealed.

Some 42% of the 800 wine drinkers surveyed said they would 'definitely' or 'probably' buy a 9% abv wine, while 59% of all respondents claimed they liked the concept of such a wine.

The survey was commissioned by UK agent and importer PLB, and US-based TFC Wines and Spirits, which specialises in lower-alcohol wines, with the results released at a lower-alcohol forum organised by the Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) in London yesterday (Thursday 1st).

TFC winemaker David Stevens described lower-alcohol wines as the 'last unconquered frontier' of the wine industry.

All speakers at the event highlighted the need to tighten up wine labelling laws, and called on the EU to draw up definitions for terms such as 'lower alcohol' and 'reduced alcohol', which currently do not exist.

WSTA chief executive Jeremy Beadles added that wines sold in the UK should not be marketed on the basis of their alcohol strength; in addition, wines above 1.2% abv should not be allowed to 'bear health claims'.

Under current EU legislation – with a few exceptions, such as German Prädikatsweins and Italian Moscatos – the minimum permitted alcohol level of wine is 8.5% abv, with a maximum of 15%, and winemakers are only allowed to reduce alcohol by 2% from their original level.

Dan Jago, UK beer, wine and spirits director at Tesco, believed that some consumers were put off by the 'Frankenstein's monster' element of wines that have their alcohol levels modified.

He said, 'there's also a bit of a social leper status to someone who drinks Eisberg (a non-alcoholic wine) on a night out.'

 

 

An American in Burgundy Is Feeling the Squeeze

By Lou Marmon-  The Washington Post,  Wednesday, July 8, 2009

 

These are tough times to be a winemaker. Consumers are buying but overall sales are down, and the demand for the higher-priced wines has nearly evaporated. The larger producers are better positioned to withstand the economic downturn, but even the giant wine conglomerates are laying off employees. For smaller producers who make limited amounts of the world's finest wines, these conditions are potentially disastrous.

This is not what Blair Pethel bargained for when he uprooted his wife and two young sons from Washington in 2003 to fulfill his dreams in the Burgundian vineyards. Making wine is a perilous, capital-intensive enterprise completely at the mercy of capricious weather, global economic upheavals and unpredictable consumer preferences. It is especially difficult for an American within the heavily regulated French wine industry, with its layers of bureaucracy and inherent prejudices against outsiders.

There are nearly 4,300 producers in Burgundy, and these "domaines" are mostly small, family-run affairs. The region's emphasis on quality and the rural lifestyle are among the factors that prompted Pethel to give up his career and a house in Potomac to move his family to France and become a winemaker, even though he didn't speak French at the time.

The financial environment has hit Pethel hard. The Burgundy Wine Board reported that exports, a mainstay of the region's economy, were down by nearly 30 percent in the last quarter of 2008. Almost the entire decline is attributed to decreased demand in the United States and the United Kingdom, two of Pethel's primary markets. Combined with a less than stellar 2007 growing season in Burgundy and despite critical acclaim for his Domaine Dublere wines, the current release is selling at a snail's pace.

"I am really struggling," he said recently. "I easily sold out all of my wines in '04, '05 and '06. But with the downturn the '07s are not selling well. Cash flow is killing me. My livelihood and that of my family are being threatened." He has the capacity to produce about 30,000 bottles annually; he filled 22,000 bottles in '07.

Three domaines are owned by Americans; Pethel is the only one who personally handles every aspect of his. Tall, trim, with silver-flecked brown hair and a wide smile, the 52-year-old is charmingly articulate. Growing up in North Carolina did not give him much exposure to wine. He pursued an acting career during college but ultimately returned home, eventually landing a position at the Greensboro News & Record and completing his journalism degree. A scholarship led to piano study and a doctorate at the Peabody Institute. He mastered polo because he got a job at the Polo Magazine. He declined a career in music or polo and returned to the News & Record. He tried out for the TV game show "Jeopardy!," which he won twice.

In 1987, Pethel followed his girlfriend to England. Three weeks later, they split up and Pethel found himself in London "with nothing, knowing no one and no prospects." He decided that "since I was in Europe, I'd try to learn about wine." After tasting some Burgundies, he started to routinely visit the region and brought back prodigious amounts of wine stashed in every conceivable crevice of his car.

He met his future wife, Fran, at a London ballet; the new couple vacationed frequently in Burgundy. They moved to Washington during the Clinton years, when Pethel worked for Knight Ridder as an economic correspondent. A timely inheritance allowed them to buy a home in Potomac. Both of their sons were born in Maryland, and the family became submerged in a life of carpools and school activities.

Despite their suburban success, or perhaps because of it, Fran and Blair continued to strive to return to France. "We suffered terrific culture shock on coming back to the U.S. in 1994," Pethel said. "We felt that the value system in the U.S., which places emphasis on work, income and consumption more than on relationships and happiness, did not agree with our own."

In 2002, they bought and renovated a 410-year-old house in Beaune, the medieval walled city that is the capital of the Burgundian wine industry. The following year was not the best time for an American to move to France. The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began in March, and Europeans' anti-American sentiment was almost palpable. Despite the tensions between America and France, Pethel and his family were welcomed in Beaune. Fran got a job as a teacher, and their neighbors were friendly.

Pethel answered an ad for a field hand and met Burgundy producer Jean-Marc Pillot, who recalls that "a short phone interview left me somewhat suspicious of his accent, which was -- how to put it -- not typically Burgundian. You'll understand my surprise when, at the time we'd arranged for a personal interview, I heard the roar of a Mercedes convertible arriving in the courtyard. A couple of seconds later, a tall man extracted himself from the car, typically American, with an earring but with, at the same time, an air of dynamism and kindness. After several questions, I immediately saw that Pethel was passionate about Burgundy, and in this profession, it's passion that drives everything."

He worked for other winemakers until he could buy his own vineyards and renovate a former tractor shed into a winery. Pethel had to become fluent in French in order to complete a rigorous 10-month course at the Lycee Viticole de Beaune. Known as Burgundy School, it is where the local winemaking regulations are taught along with organic chemistry and tax law, all in French. Some of his classmates were less than enthusiastic about an American joining their ranks. "Good-natured teasing I can stand," Pethel said. "This was not. I had to threaten to punch one guy to get him to back off."

Despite the hostility and other obstacles, his Domaine Dublere began to thrive. But, as it has elsewhere, the downturn has reversed Pethel's fortunes. Yet to be a winemaker is to be an optimist. While Pethel doesn't expect any financial help from what he calls "the socialist French government," the Burgundy Wine Board sees potential growth in nontraditional markets and is promoting the region's wines aggressively. There is hope that the economy will recover and that the 2009 vintage will live up to expectations.

However, Fran notes that her husband doesn't play the piano much anymore. One evening, as he waited for their kids to get settled before the couple went out for dinner, he sat at his grand piano and played a Schumann concerto. Pethel was so absorbed that he didn't hear anyone walk in the room. After a few minutes, he noticed Fran and a visitor listening in a corner.

"We should get going," he said with a grin. "I have to be back in the vineyards early in the morning."

 

 

Wine industry needs more workers

Country Life, Thursday, 08 October 2009

 

England’s wine industry is falling behind in production due to a lack of qualified workers

England's wine industry needs more workers. After a record year, three million bottles of English wine could be produced using 2009's grapes, but the number of skilled workers in the industry is falling behind the increased production.

To combat this, the Government and the European Commission have provided £1.6 million for winemaking classes at Plumpton College, East Sussex, the only UK undergraduate college with its own vineyard and winery. Frazer Thompson, managing director of the English Wines group, says: ‘This is essential for the industry. As it grows, we must have an educational structure to nurture homegrown talent.

We need people working on the land, growing grapes and making wine brilliantly, not merely sipping it when wearing a tux and a bowtie. At the moment, in this country, we're stronger on the creative side-selling and writing about wine-but this is ultimately a profession that's close to the earth.' Mr Thompson's company, which owns the award-winning Chapel Down label, is committed to planting at least another 200 acres over the next three years, as long as it can find a workforce with the necessary skills.

He adds: ‘This is one of the most exciting times in English wine history. What sets people apart in this industry is passion if you don't like the product that you're going to consume, it won't work. However, wine is also a serious long-term investment-it's probably one of the safest areas in the current climate. We've been drinking wine for 3,000 years so far, and I'm sure we'll be drinking it for another 3,000 years.'

 

 

BC and two Ontario wine producers to change bottle labels after complaints

By Sunny Dhillon (CP)

 

VANCOUVER, B.C. — All three of Canada's largest wine producers are working on new labels for some of their best-selling wines after complaints that consumers were being hoodwinked into thinking they were made from Canadian grapes.

The winemakers say they've listened to the outcry, but in British Columbia, they've also had an unsubtle nudge from the provincial government, which sells their product in provincial liquor stores.

"We believe in more transparent labelling," said a source at the Mark Anthony group, producer of the popular Mission Hill wines, which are made with 100 per cent Canadian grapes, as well as the Wild Horse Canyon wine which is a blend of grapes from B.C., Washington and California.

The source said no one at Mark Anthony wanted to go on the record to discuss the labelling changes because the company preferred to announce the move when it could introduce the new label design. It's not clear yet when those design changes will be done.

The three winemakers, including the Ontario companies that make Peller Estates and Jackson Triggs, have been under fire for selling wines inconspicuously labelled "Cellared in Canada" when in fact, the wine contains mostly foreign grapes.

Consumers - egged on by several high-profile wine writers - say the labels are misleading at best.

In response to the outcry, B.C.'s agriculture minister said earlier this week that wines made from foreign grapes would be moved out of the B.C. products section in government-run liquor stores.

The source at the Mark Anthony group said the winery has no problem with that, saying the winery is "talking with the province about proper signage" with the intent of creating a new section for cellared-in-Canada wines.

The issue has become an especially hot one in Ontario, where grape growers are stuck with a glut of grapes this year that aren't being sold.

John Peller, president of Ontario-based Andrew Peller Ltd., said his company has for more than a decade labelled bottles that contain import wine but appear in the Canadian section of the liquor store as "Cellared in Canada."

But Peller said no formal complaints had been registered until the past few weeks about importing bulk grapes, bottling them in this country, and marketing them as Canadian. Now that there have been complaints, the company has been forced to act.

"We will add more information to the label and we'll do it as soon as we can," Peller said in an interview.

"We can move the information to make sure it's on the front label as well as on the back label. We can make it a little more prominent and add some information."

Peller said it was never his company's intention to deceive anyone or confuse consumers.

"Please don't question our intention to be totally transparent and honest," he said.

Peller said the now-controversial labels have been in place since 1996 when they were approved by a national standards board.

"We pointed out to the government, 'We can't say these wines are a product of Canada because they're not a 100-per cent product of Canada,"' he recalled. He said the board then told them to go with "Cellared in Canada."

Peller also disputed the assertion that the import wines feature no Canadian content, estimating that the average bottle has 30 to 40 per cent Canadian grapes.

The controversy could not have come at a worse time. Peller said sales have already been slow throughout the wine industry and his company has been forced to lay off some employees.

Vincor, who Peller described as a respected wine industry competitor, has also agreed to change some of its import labels to alleviate any concern.

Lisa Cameron, general manager of the British Columbia Wine Institute which has 85 winery members, said any move that provides consumer clarity is a good one.

"(Our members) just hope that this can be used as an opportunity to educate consumers that if they want to buy a 100-per cent B.C. wine then they should look for the B.C. VQA label," she said.

VQA - or Vintners Quality Alliance - means a wine is made from Ontario or B.C. grapes.

Bob Ferguson, who owns the Kettle Valley Winery in Naramata, B.C., agreed, saying if - and only if - the labels clear things up, consumers will be the better for it.

"To date (consumers) haven't been able to make an informed choice because the labels, the way they're laid out from the larger corporations, are very, very similar to their B.C. products and they're intensely confusing to consumers," he said.

"I think any steps that are made towards clearly identifying and properly labelling their wine is a step in the right direction," though Ferguson cautioned he hadn't seen what any revised labels might look like.

He said B.C. wine growers have been working to combat the Cellared in Canada label since it came into existence.

Wine writer John Schreiner said he expects the labelling changes will help clear things up somewhat, but he said what's more likely to propel the change is a desire by the Canadian wineries to distinguish their marquee products from their lower-end wines.

"Now that Jackson Triggs is a highly respected brand - that winery has won top awards in top competitions all over the place for its VQA wines - the risk now is to have $8 or $9 wines also with the Jackson Triggs label. To some extent, it takes away from what's become quite a distinguished brand," said Schreiner.

"Mission Hill has already done this. There is now no Mission Hill brand that's not VQA."

Instead, the Mark Anthony group sells its Cellared in Canada wines under labels such as Sonora Ranch and Mission Ridge.

Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press.

 

 

 

Wine Will Never Smell the Same Again: Luca Turin and the Science of Scent

Vinography 3 October 2009

 

I've recently discovered someone that I think may be perhaps the greatest writer of tasting notes in the history of the English language. He's not a wine critic, and the notes aren't about wine. But Luca Turin can write about what he smells better than anyone I have ever seen.

Luca Turin is many things, but perhaps most of all he is a scientist. But then again that may be too small a word for a man whose career has consisted of smashing down many of the walls that divide traditional scientific disciplines. Pioneer might better describe this man who may have finally figured out one of the biggest mysteries of the human body: how it is that we smell things.

Fantastically, Turin embarked on his journey to the theory that may yet win him the Nobel Prize not as a biologist, or a chemist, or a physicist (though he had to become all three along the way) but as a lover of perfume. And not just a lover, but a critic -- and not just any critic, but, as it happens, the first real perfume critic. Ever.

Here's how Turin describes the perfume Nombre Noir, which he credits in his book, the Secret of Scent, as the smell that got him hooked:

The fragrance was, and still is, a radical surprise. A perfume, like the timbre of a voice, can say something quite independent of the words actually spoken. What Nombre Noir said, was 'flower.' But the way it said it was an epiphany. The flower at the core of Nombre Noir was halfway between a rose and a violet, but without a trace of the sweetness of either, set instead against an austere, almost saintly background of cigar-box cedar notes. At the same time, it wasn't dry, and seemed to be glistening with a liquid freshness that made its deep colours glow like a stained glass window. The voice of Nombre Noir was that of a child older than its years, at once fresh, husky, modulated, and faintly capricious. There was a knowing naivety about it which made me think of Colette's writing style in her Claudine books. It brought to mind a purple ink to write love letters with, and that wonderful French word farouche, which can mean either shy or fierce or a bit of both.

Turin would be a captivating figure solely for the basis of his uncanny, almost preternatural ability to translate between the realm of scent perception and the English language. But his story is much richer than that, and his gifts more prodigious.

With utter disregard for the traditional canons and boundaries of scientific inquiry, Turin found himself on an odyssey that began with that first whiff of Nombre Noir, and ended with an unorthodox, but seemingly sound combination of experimental science that has effectively rewritten the Theory of Smell. And if that weren't interesting enough, Turin and his theory have met with nothing but fierce opposition and rancorous opprobrium from the scientific establishment.

Luca Turin's story and the story of how he developed this theory is told in Chandler Burr's The Emperor of Scent, and Turin's own The Secret of Scent, which together (to borrow a description provided by a winemaker friend of mine) may well be the most important books about wine in existence that aren't actually about wine.

When it comes to tasting wines, our tongues and taste buds are merely blunt instruments -- the sensorial equivalent of solving a Rubik's Cube with boxing gloves on. We perceive but 5 tastes -- sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami (which many people describe as "savory"). And together these taste buds could never give us the gunflint and lime zest of Sancerre or the graphite, tobacco and cherry of Bordeaux. No, for all the delicious sensations of the wine world, we need our sense of smell.

For decades, and even today, in many hallowed institutions, the accepted explanation of how smell works can be described in a single word: shape. It goes something like this: all molecules are shaped differently and we have receptors in our noses that match all the different molecules out there in the world that we can smell. A molecule floats into the nose, somehow finds its way to an appropriate receptor and like two jigsaw puzzle pieces fitting together, violá, we smell the rose.

Except there are all sorts of reasons why that is pretty much impossible. I can't do justice to the scientific explanations of this, but for starters, we've actually figured out where the smell receptors are, and counted them and there are 347 of them. But we have not yet discovered a limit to the number of molecules that we can smell, and we're inventing new smells all the time, meaning that there cannot be a one-to-one mapping of molecule to receptor. Which pushes the traditional theory to a place where instead of gripping the whole molecule, our receptors grip only a part of it and read it like Braille. The problem with this approach is that there are many molecules with very similar shapes that smell entirely different, as well as molecules with vastly different shapes that smell quite the same. All of which means that it's pretty much impossible to predict what any given molecule will smell like.

And of course, that's what any good scientific theory should let you do: set up a situation and predict the result. And when it comes to the shape theory of smell, there isn't anyone who can look at the shape of a molecule and predict how it will smell to us. Which is why perfume companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars creating thousands and thousands of molecules hoping that one of them will smell like what they want.

Neither the theory, nor the "machine gun" approach to scent chemistry made any sense to Turin, and so he decided to figure out how our noses really work. It took him years, and some chance discoveries of long-forgotten scientific research by others who were on the same quest, but eventually he did it. And the answer to the question of how our sense of smell really works is nothing short of remarkable.

The answer, Turin says, is that the receptors don't "feel" the molecules at all. Instead they listen to them like the plucked string of an instrument.

Every molecule vibrates at its own specific series of frequencies that are determined by its chemical makeup. Smack that molecule with some energy (say, a photon or electron) and it will hum its particular chord of vibrations that can be easily measured. This fact produced the invention of the spectrograph, a very handy tool we humans have used to analyze the chemical content of pretty much everything in the universe.

And, it turns out, that's exactly what we have in our noses. Little mini spectrographs that smack scent molecules around with electrons and measure the frequencies so that we can send signals to our brains that say "mint" or "manure."

Burr's chronicle of how Turin came to his amazing conclusion made for one of the most fascinating non-fiction books I have read in a long time. The story is made even more fascinating by the petty politics and obdurate close-mindedness of the scientific world that have prevented Turin's theory from completely overturning the prevailing theory, as all good scientific advances are supposed to do.

Turin's own book leaves out the petty politics almost entirely, and goes deeper into the leaps of insight and logic that led him to his remarkable conclusions.

The combination of the two books have completely changed the way I think about aromas, and deepened my appreciation for the magical flavors of wine. I highly recommend them to anyone.

Luca Turin was kind enough to respond to an e-mail I sent him some time ago, and answered (albeit briefly) a bunch of my layman's questions.

AY: We all hear and learn in school that we have 5 primary taste receptors -- salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and umami -- and that most of what we actually perceive as the flavor of what we drink is actually aroma. Is this true, and can you describe the mechanism by which we "smell" the stuff that's in our mouths?

Turin: The olfactory epithelium sits a the top of the nasal cavity which is open both front (nostrils) and back (above the soft palate). What's in your mouth reaches it from the back before and during swallowing.

 

AY: Do you know how our sense of something's flavor is constructed in our brains as a result of the aromatic components and the sensory input to the taste buds? I'm curious about the interplay between olfaction and tasting...

Turin: Not sure, but the fact that wine is indistinguishable from swill when you have a severe cold suggests that the mouthfeel and taste input is small.

 

AY: The number of molecules needed for us to actually smell something, like a note in a perfume is amazingly small, (which involved about 400 molecules, he said]. Do you know if the same is true for the aromatic parts of flavors?

Turin: Different materials (molecules) differ by several orders of magnitude in potency, ranging from linear alkanes (quite weak) to sulfides (very strong)

 

AY: There's a line in your TED talk where you say "Do not think that this is subjective. You are all smelling pretty much the same thing" and you go on to explain that that our perception of aromas is largely the same from person to person, which is why there is a perfume industry. Can you explain more about this? And do you think the same is true of our perception of flavors?

Turin: Much has been made of the supposed subjectivity of odor, whatever that means. For some reason people seem to think that "apple" is a less solid descriptor than "blue" or "oboe". I know only of one or two cases where different people smell a molecule completely differently, as in woody vs. urinous. In all others, they pretty much agree. The constancy of color, sound and odor is what enables an artist to make something that will be generally appreciated.

 

AY: Is there a limit to the number of things that we can smell as humans? In the same way that we can only see certain wavelengths of light? Do we know what the limits are? How would you describe them?

Turin: We use three different color receptors rather broadly tuned within a range spanning about one octave of electromagnetic vibration to distinguish thousands of colors. Presentation of color is easier than presentation of odors, and the limits and resolution of color space are known accurately for stimuli on a dark background. The situation is immensely more complex for reflected-light multicolor scenes, for which the algorithm that the brain uses to calculate color is still in part mysterious, despite the pioneering work of E H Land of Polaroid fame. In the case of odor, the limits are not known: no two different molecules have ever been found to have identical odors.

 

AY: These days, a lot of people are talking about supertasters -- people with a higher concentration of taste buds on their tongues than normal. Are you familiar with this concept? Is there any analogue in the world of smell?

Turin: There may be, but I'm not aware of it. Pregnant women are frequently hyperosmic.

 

AY: Where does the biophysics of smell -- the sensation -- transition to the perception and the recognition of aromas? What does modern science know about the relationship between these two?

Turin: Modern science knows rather little about this, and much of what is known seems to be common sense translated into jargon.

 

AY: What do you personally smell when you taste wine? Do you find yourself smelling different things than others because of your training?

Turin: No, though sometimes hilarious associations with fragrance do come to mind. I like huge, dark, smoky reds and shy away from any kind of refinement.

 

AY: What's the most interesting or oddest thing you've ever smelled in a wine?

Turin: The plucked chicken skin note of certain sweet Loire whites.

 

AY: Do you have a favorite wine or a favorite moment related to wine?

Turin: When I first tasted a recent vintage of Feudi di San Gregorio's Serpico, I thought my ship had come in. Unfortunately I can't afford the passage. I also remember a '76 Rieussec as insanely great,

And just to close, let me offer you Turin's thoughts on a 1959 Chateau Rieussec Sauternes, as captured by Chandler Burr:

Utterly sensational. Fresh as a trout. Sauternes are very saturnine, a honeyed summery exterior covering a late November liquid. There are three elements -- a beeswax, a woody, and a floral banana -- with a perfect balance between extreme acidity and huge, heavy, oily sweetness, like a blend of jasmine and musk. A great Sauternes is a perfectly proportioned thing. Rieussec makes big-boned, stocky affairs. The '59, in a bottle for forty years, comes out the way James Bond emerges from a wet suit in a perfect tuxedo. It looks at you and murmurs, 'What kept you?"

I can't help myself. I love this guy.

 

 

If It Wasn’t for That Umlaut ...

NY Times, By ERIC ASIMOV

GRÜNER VELTLINER is one of summer’s great, unlikely pleasures.

Why unlikely? Well, it may seem shallow, but Americans have always been riveted by the mellifluous, flowing wine names drawn of the romance languages — the chardonnays, pinot grigios and Sancerres. Germanic terms, with their umlauts and consonant pileups, have historically posed obstacles, whether gewürztraminer, blaufränkisch (its alternate name, lemberger, is no better) or the ever-popular trockenbeerenauslese.

Yet grüner veltliner from Austria has not only survived but prospered on restaurant lists across the country. It’s one of those happily inexplicable things. Years ago I never would have guessed that Americans would fall in love with raw fish, but now sushi bars are everywhere.

One possible reason for grüner veltliner’s popularity is that, unlike riesling, it does not have to overcome the assumption that it’s sweet. Sure, sweet grüner veltliners are produced, very good ones in fact. But they are the exception. Consumers can be confident when they order a bottle that it will be dry.

Another is the wine itself. Grüner veltliner can range from crisp and light-bodied to rich and full-bodied, with aromas and flavors of lemon and grapefruit, flowers and herbs. Perhaps its most distinctive feature is a peppery spiciness. Good examples can also have a minerality.

Across the stylistic board, though, a dry grüner veltliner should have a refreshing tanginess, borne of good acidity. All told, a good grüner veltliner goes wonderfully with many foods.

As for the name, Americans have found several methods of sliding by. Most common is simply truncating the name, calling it grüner (and softening it to GROO-ner rather than the more correct, diacritical GREWH-ner), and dispensing with the ungainly veltliner (pronounced FEHLT-lee-ner). Some call it simply G.V., and occasionally you’ll find sommeliers and industry people who use the insiderish term gru-ve, pronounced “groovy.”

With high expectations of summer meals happily accompanied by glistening bottles of grüner veltliner, the wine panel recently sampled 19 bottles from the 2007 vintage, which has the reputation of being good to grüner, and one from 2008. For the tasting, Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Belinda Chang, wine director at the Modern, and David Lynch, who recently left his position as general manager at the John Dory to take a job as wine director at Quince in San Francisco.

As eager as we were to embrace the wines, the tasting was somewhat disquieting. While we very much liked our favorites, we found too many wines that were not up to snuff. Some were ponderous and heavy, too big with not enough zesty acidity. A few of the big ones had detectable sweetness, a style that Belinda called “Alsace grüner,” after the wines from Alsace that can unpredictably have a bit of residual sugar. Others seemed simply wan and lacked snap.

“When a good grüner really delivers, it has depth,” David said. “A lot just lacked acidity.”

Belinda wondered whether some of our disappointment was a result of high expectations.

Perhaps so, but the wines we liked best certainly were as good as anticipated. There was no disputing our favorite, the Domäne Wachau Federspiel Terrassen, which had all the balance we were hoping to find, along with pure, deep, complex flavors.

As you might guess, Domäne Wachau is in the Wachau region of Austria, which produces the country’s richest wines; in the best bottles, though, the richness comes without weight and heft. Wachau alone uses a specific terminology for the ripeness at which the grapes are harvested.

A federspiel wine, like our No. 1, is harvested at the medium ripeness level. The ripest Wachau wines are called smaragd (pronounced shmar-AHGD), and they also tend to be the most expensive. Indeed the two Wachau smaragds in our top 10, the Prager Achleiten and the Alzinger Mühlpoint, were by far the most expensive of our favorites. Both had a crystalline purity and a peppery, minerally richness, with underlying citrus, floral and mineral flavors.

The other leading grüner veltliner regions are Kamptal and Kremstal, sources of 5 of our top 10 bottles. While these may not have the richness of the Wachau smaragds, they are not necessarily slender wines, though our No. 3 bottle, the Birgit Eichinger Hasel from Kamptal, was beautifully weightless, with refreshing, tangy flavors. But both the Büchegger Holzgasse from Kremstal and the Hiedler Thal from Kamptal were substantial, balanced, delicious wines.

Some of the best values come from other regions. The Graff Hardegg Veltlinsky, a $14 bottle, had a lovely texture, with flavors of citrus, flowers and minerals. It comes from the Weinviertel region, although the label cannot say so officially because the wine carries a brand name, Veltlinsky. Speaking of values, the liter bottle for $13 from E.&M. Berger is a perennial. It’s not a complex wine, but it is satisfying.

All good, right? Well, let’s not forget those disappointing bottles. Some were rich wines that were also fatiguing, as if some producers were aiming for smaragd-level ripeness without the balance that keeps a big wine refreshing. They were heavy-handed, while a good grüner veltliner should have an almost electric jolt of bracing acidity.

I’m hesitant to make this comparison, but the tasting reminded me of what has happened with some New Zealand sauvignon blancs. These wines have achieved tremendous popularity in the last 25 years, but of late I can’t help but sense that some producers are not taking particular care in making their wines. Instead they treat the genre like a cash cow, confident that cachet will triumph over a lack of effort.

I don’t think grüner veltliner producers have strayed that far, but compared with previous tastings I do sense a falloff. With a little more attention to balance, perhaps all will be groovy again.

 

 

Biosensor to Revolutionise the detection of sulphites in wine

An Adelaide company has secured funding to finalise prototypes and complete testing of a biosensor technology that is set to revolutionise the testing of water, wine and food throughout the world.

CleanFutures AquaSens, based in Adelaide, was formed specifically to develop the AquaSens biosensor. The technology is a rapid, highly sensitive sensor probe for the detection of nitrates and phosphates in water, and sulfites in wine and food products.

The technology was developed by Monash University in Victoria and had started its commercialisation process through a Victorian State Government body, Nanotechnology Victoria. When the funding was wound down for this body earlier this year, two South Australian entrepreneurs set about bringing the technology to Adelaide for further commercial development.

The funding will enable CleanFutures AquaSens to design and manufacture industrial prototypes of the biosensor and to then conduct customer trials.
The technology allows for tests to be completed immediately and in the field rather than taking samples for further analysis in a laboratory

CleanFutures has arranged for the technology’s inventor, Professor Sam Adeloju from Monash, to work with both Flinders University and The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) to finalise the required research for the sulfite application of the AquaSens technology.
“Once proven the sulfite biosensor will enable all wineries to test every barrel of wine and make sure that sulfite levels are managed effectively” said John O’Brien, CleanFutures AquaSens’ CFO.

 

Wine drinkers in favour of lower alcohol levels

October 2, 2009- Decanter ,Stuart Peskett

Nearly half of UK wine drinkers said they would buy a wine with an alcohol level of just 9% abv – provided that taste is not compromised – a new survey has revealed.

Some 42% of the 800 wine drinkers surveyed said they would 'definitely' or 'probably' buy a 9% abv wine, while 59% of all respondents claimed they liked the concept of such a wine.

The survey was commissioned by UK agent and importer PLB, and US-based TFC Wines and Spirits, which specialises in lower-alcohol wines, with the results released at a lower-alcohol forum organised by the Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) in London yesterday (Thursday 1st).

TFC winemaker David Stevens described lower-alcohol wines as the 'last unconquered frontier' of the wine industry.

All speakers at the event highlighted the need to tighten up wine labelling laws, and called on the EU to draw up definitions for terms such as 'lower alcohol' and 'reduced alcohol', which currently do not exist.

WSTA chief executive Jeremy Beadles added that wines sold in the UK should not be marketed on the basis of their alcohol strength; in addition, wines above 1.2% abv should not be allowed to 'bear health claims'.

Under current EU legislation – with a few exceptions, such as German Prädikatsweins and Italian Moscatos – the minimum permitted alcohol level of wine is 8.5% abv, with a maximum of 15%, and winemakers are only allowed to reduce alcohol by 2% from their original level.

Dan Jago, UK beer, wine and spirits director at Tesco, believed that some consumers were put off by the 'Frankenstein's monster' element of wines that have their alcohol levels modified.

He said, 'there's also a bit of a social leper status to someone who drinks Eisberg (a non-alcoholic wine) on a night out.'

 

 

Vintners caution against over-extraction during 2009 Bordeaux harvest

Decanter- October 2, 2009 - Panos Kakaviatos in Bordeaux

Winemakers are being urged to be aware of over-extraction during the 2009 Bordeaux harvest.

'The problem in great vintages like 2009 is the false assurance that every bit of tannin will be ripe, so you might see over extraction of wines,' said Pierre Olivier Clouet, oenologist at Chateau Cheval Blanc in St. Emilion.

'With weather so good and grapes so ripe, people think they can pigeage and pump-over to their heart's content, but I never saw as many over-extracted wines as I did in the 2005 vintage,' he told decanter.com, comparing 2009 to 2005.

Rémi Edange, assistant manager at Domaine de Chevalier, too warned of the dangers of over-extraction.

'When you have thick, hard skins like this, you do not want to pump over or pigeage too much because you could force out some hard tannins,' he said.

Rain is forecast on Monday (5 October) for Bordeaux, and Edange said that while humidity softens the skins, 'a real rain shower would mean that we will have to pick fairly fast, to avoid the spread of rot.'

On the left bank at Chateau Léoville Barton in St Julien, Merlot was not picked until 27 September and the Cabernet Sauvignon harvest will end on Saturday (3 October), said owner Anthony Barton.

Neighbour Léoville Poyferré started picking Merlot on 29 September and will not begin picking its Cabernet until next week.

'We see no reason to rush; we think we will get more from the grapes,' said Michel Rolland, oenologist at Léoville Poyferré.

'It is an intuitive decision based on tasting the grapes.'

 

 

Pancho Campo resigns to 'focus on clearing name'

October 2, 2009 - Decanter, Adam Lechmere

Pancho Campo MW has stepped down as director of the Wine Future Rioja conference next month and resigned as president of the Spanish Wine Academy.

Kevin Zraly of New York's Windows on the World wine school, and a highly respected wine critic and writer, has taken over as chair of the conference, at which Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson MW, and Decanter's consultant editor Steven Spurrier are due to appear.

Campo's brother-in-law Rony Bacqué will replace him as president of the academy.

The beleagured Campo (pictured) has been embroiled in a complex battle with authorities in Dubai for the last few weeks, after a Madrid journalist came across a type of arrest warrant or 'location notice' for him on the Interpol website.

The warrant relates to a 2002 complaint brought by former business partner Jackie Wartanian to do with a fee paid to singer Enrique Iglesias. At the time Campo ran a sports and music promotion company in Dubai.

It now appears that in June 2003 in Dubai Campo was found guilty in absentia of breach of trust and given a one-year custodial sentence followed by deportation.

Campo vehemently denies knowing anything about the sentence. He told decanter.com the first he heard about it was when it was published in an article in Dubai newspaper The Nation on 19 September.

Before he left Dubai in February 2003, Campo knew Wartanian had filed a complaint claiming that US$1m had been misused, he said, but his lawyer had told him simply to inform the embassy of his new address, which he did.

'The case was tried and I was sentenced in my absence without any legal representation,' Campo told decanter.com.

His lawyer in Dubai told him nothing about the sentence, Campo said, and they have since lost touch. He added that he would not be suing the lawyer because he was 'in no mood to do anything like that'.

Campo admitted that he had spent two hours in French immigration at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris in March, in a 'routine passport check', during which the Interpol warrant was mentioned.

'That was the first idea I had about the Interpol warrant. They kept me for about two hours and then apologised. They advised me to get a lawyer.'

Campo said that he resigned his posts at the Wine Academy, of which he owns 25% with the rest owned by his wife and her family, because he had to 'focus on clearing his name'.

'I don't want any damage done to the Wine Academy. My lawyers in Washington and in Spain are finding out exactly what happened and are confident that they will have resolved the situation by November.'

He also insists that no pressure to resign was put on him by the Rioja Consejo Regulador, which is funding one third of the conference.

The government of Rioja is providing the venue for free.

Campo said, 'The conference is still 100%. The speakers are all on board and we have just taken on two new sponsors, JF Hillebrand, and Enerterra, a renewable energy company.'

 

A New Way to Inspect Your Vineyard's Soils

by Cliff Ohmart

 

Soil is the foundation for every vineyard. Not only does it provide an anchor for the vines, but its properties contribute significantly to vineyard health, wine quality and terroir. Moreover, improving soil quality is one of the primary goals of farming, whether it is sustainable, organic or Biodynamic. I am a big believer in the adage, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." Soil is a particularly difficult medium to measure, but it is important to do the best we can, because knowing the properties of our vineyard soil and how they change over time is a key to managing soil sustainably.

In mid-June I was invited by Soil and Topography Information LLC (STI) to a demonstration in Lodi, Calif., of a method to tackle the difficult challenge of mapping and assessing vineyard soil properties. It is called Soil Information System (SIS), and it is a combination of well-established technologies for measuring soil parameters and new ways to analyze this data to produce a very sophisticated view of the soil at a given site. One of the things I like about SIS is that it is not just some fancy equipment but an approach to better understanding the soil.

A firm reborn
SIS cannot be considered new, as it was developed by STI almost 10 years ago. In 2005 John Deere Inc. purchased and controlled the exclusive commercial rights to the technology, and through John Deere Ag Services, SIS was utilized in many different parts of the world. In 2008, due to a restructuring at John Deere, STI repurchased the commercial rights to SIS and is now in the position to advertise and apply the approach directly to the market, including vineyards in California and other parts of the United States.

SIS uses two phases of data collection and analysis in the initial stages of assessing a vineyard's soil. This can be done before a vineyard is planted, which is ideal, but it can also be done in an established vineyard. The first phase involves measuring a soil's electromagnetic conductivity, which literally means to measure a soil's ability to conduct (transmit) an electrical charge. This ability is affected by soil properties such as moisture content, texture, salinity and organic matter.

Measuring a soil's electromagnetic conductivity can be done either with an electromagnetic conductivity (EC) or electromagnetic induction (EMI) device contained within a piece of equipment called a Surfer, which is dragged behind an ATV throughout the entire vineyard. The Surfer at the demonstration contained a DualEM 1S, which is a noncontact sensor. This device can measure bulk soil conductivity to a depth of 4.9 feet, and the DualEM 2S can measure it down to 9.8 feet. The Surfer also uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to collect topographic data for the vineyard.

The data stream from the Surfer is sent directly to an in-field computer mounted on the ATV, which analyzes the data in real time, creating a map with a resolution of about a square meter. At the demonstration, it was emphasized that the EC is not a stand-alone measure of the properties of a vineyard's soil. Rather, it is used to measure the soil's variability throughout the vineyard to determine where to make the next set of measurements.

Diver down
A device called an SIS Diver collects the second set of data at a series of points throughout the vineyard, the number and location being determined by the data analyses from the Surfer. The SIS Diver is a penetrometer based on the American Society of Testing Material D5778-95 mounted on a small tractor. It contains the following sensors: tip pressure on the cone at the tip of the Diver probe, friction measured on the sleeve of the penetrometer, moisture as measured by a capacitance-based sensor, and electrical resistivity of the soil measured in ohms.

As the penetrometer is pushed vertically into the soil, it continuously collects data that is analyzed by software producing real-time graphical output displayed on a computer mounted on the tractor. Of course, this data is retained for later manipulation and analyses, too. The Diver usually inserts the probe until it reaches a restriction layer or 5 feet, whichever comes first.

This is not the first time someone has used EMI to measure soil electrical conductivity in order to assess soil parameters. In fact, STI is quick to point out that it is technology neutral when it comes to deciding what to use to measure soil parameters. The company selects the best technology available, representatives say. What is proprietary is the software that analyzes the data output from the sensors.

Mapping technology
The SIS software is designed to provide a wide array of analyses and outputs, from simple to complex, from the data collected by the SIS Surfer and Diver. It also uses Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to create maps. For example, it can produce distribution maps of soil texture, available water in the rooting zone, nutrient holding capacity, distribution of specific soil nutrients, or maps detailing the differential rate of specific fertilizer applications throughout a vineyard.

For those more comfortable with soil samples from soil pits, the data from the SIS Diver can help locate the best places to dig soil pits. Soil pits are very expensive and disruptive in a vineyard or on a potential vineyard site, so the fewer the better. SIS can minimize the number of pits needed. Depending on the results of the data, pits may not need to be dug at all.

SIS also can produce a topographic map of the vineyard. Since the demonstration was at a vineyard in the "flat" part of the Lodi region, I commented on this, and STI's response was, "There is no such thing as flat ground." Even in an apparently flat vineyard, there are subtle differences in elevation that can have significant effects on soil properties.

One of the obvious uses I could see for the SIS approach is in optimizing water use in a vineyard. A very detailed map can be created from the moisture-holding capacity of the soil. Even in a vineyard that appears to have a fairly uniform soil type, moisture-holding capacity can vary considerably in different parts of the block and at different depths. If the vineyard has not been established yet, a soil's moisture-holding capacity map can be used to lay out the irrigation system so the amount of water delivered by the system matches the soil moisture-holding capacity.

In areas of the vineyard where soil moisture-holding capacity  is higher, delivery of water needs to be lower than in other areas of the vineyard where it is lower. In an existing vineyard, creating a detailed soil moisture-holding capacity map using SIS may help to alter the delivery of an existing irrigation system, so that areas of the vineyard are not over- or under-watered.

In regions like California, where water availability is possibly going to be less in the future, using SIS likely will reduce the amount of irrigation water a vineyard requires. Moreover, uniformity of crop quality is essential for achieving the highest possible quality of wine from any given vineyard, and uniform delivery of water--if the vineyard is irrigated--is one of the keys.

One of the strengths I see in the SIS approach is how it applies statistical theory to analyzing soil. Soil is like any other variable in the vineyard, such as pest populations or vine canopy parameters, yield, crop uniformity and distribution, light exposure or shoot density. To manage them well and be able to reliably predict and control the quantity and quality of the crop, we need to be able to accurately assess them.

Since it is economically impossible to measure or count the entire entity we are assessing--like the entire pest population, crop load, or all the soil in the vineyard--we must therefore sample it to make our assessment. It is here where statistical theory comes to bear. We use sampling to estimate pest numbers or crop parameters. The more statistically valid our sampling, the better our estimates will be. We can now approach soil measurements in the same way, using SIS to optimize our soil sampling.

Principal component analysis
I will end by mentioning another intriguing thing I saw at the demonstration: STI's use of principal component analysis (PCA), a multivariate statistical method to analyze the correlations of many soil parameters with specific grape properties. One of the challenges in determining what things in the vineyard affect wine quality and how significant they are is that there are so many that potentially can have an effect. Multivariate analytical methods like PCA were developed to test for statistically significant correlations of many variables--called independent variables--with one or more dependent variables.

Putting this in the context of SIS, it uses PCA to measure the correlations between many soil parameters, such as soil depth, texture parameters, moisture content, plant available water, resistivity, compaction, etc., with important berry parameters such as anthocyanin content, pH, soluble solids, or tannins and phenols. At the demonstration, STI showed an analysis looking at correlations of 41 different soil properties with anthocyanin content.

PCA was developed to better understand how complicated systems operate. A vineyard is definitely a complicated system, and it is exciting to see PCA applied to viticulture. I realized as I was leaving the demonstration that we may be seeing the first attempts at describing terroir in a quantitative way. While this may seem an anathema to traditionalists, for viticulturists trying to survive in the global wine market, new tools are essential to lifting one's game in the never-ending effort to improve wine quality in a predictable and repeatable way. For more information on the SIS approach, visit soilinfo.com.

 

Champagne bubbles improve flavour

September 30, 2009 - Decanter, Richard Woodard

Champagne's bubbles are more than mere decoration – they contain up to 30 times more flavour than the wine itself, scientists have discovered.

A study of five Champagnes and high-quality sparkling wines revealed that the liquid in a glass of Champagne and the bubbles have very different chemical fingerprints.

Reported in the US scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research found that Champagne's distinctive mousse acts as a kind of flavour delivery system or 'paternoster lift'.

Report co-author Dr Gérard Liger-Belair, of the University of Reims, used ultra high-resolution mass spectrometry to pinpoint hundreds of different active compounds present in Champagne.

He discovered that many aromatic compounds were more likely to be present in the bubbles than in the wine itself.

'By drawing a parallel between the fizz of the ocean and the fizz in Champagne wines, our results closely link bursting bubbles and flavour release,' the report says.

'Thus, supporting the idea that rising and collapsing bubbles act as a continuous paternoster lift for aromas in every glass of Champagne.'

The research findings support the long-held view among experts that Champagnes with a fine and persistent mousse, or stream of bubbles, are of a higher quality.

 

 

Own label wine sales on the rise

August 18, 2009   decanter.com staff

Retailers are reporting impressive growth of own-label wines as cash-strapped customers look to rein in their spending.

A Datamonitor survey reports 41% of all grocery sales in the UK are now own-label, up from 38.2% in 2008, and wine sales are following the upward trend.

Supermarket retailer Sainsbury's told decanter.com its own-label wines had grown at double the rate of its wine range this year. A spokeswoman said: 'Last year we revamped our own-label packaging and we have put a lot of effort behind the range in store and in the media.'

Sales of own-label goods have been boosted by the economic climate that has seen customers tighten their purse strings. Own-label goods are, on average, 22% cheaper than the equivalent branded products.

Independent merchant Berry Bros & Rudd has also reported a 10% increase in its own-brand range.

Simon Field MW, BBR buyer, said: 'To date, own-label sales are up about 10% on 2008 but people are tending to trade up within the own-label range.'

Own-brand wines from UK retailers the Co-op, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer have won regional trophies in the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards. The full results will be announced at the Decanter Awards Gala Dinner at London's Royal Opera House on September 1.

 

 

New EU wine regulations in force

August 3, 2009 Decanter -Rebecca Gibb

The European Union's new wine regulations have come into force, ushering in a new era for the European wine industry.

The hotly-debated plans - agreed by agriculture ministers in December 2007 - aim to modernise the European wine trade and improve its competitiveness in the face of a growing challenge from the New World.

The reform will also bring in new simpler labelling laws. From August 1, all wine labels are now allowed to mention grape variety and vintage on the label. The French AOC becomes AOP (Appellation d'Origin Protegée) and the equivalent of vin de pays wines will now be known as IGPs (Indication Geographique Protegée).

A voluntary, three-year grubbing-up scheme to encourage uncompetitive producers to leave the industry will be put in place. Subsidies for crisis distillation will also be phased out as an added measure to reduce overproduction.

Mariann Fischer Boel, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said: 'Member States and producers have a great opportunity to make the best use of the new wine regime to build on Europe's international reputation for excellence. I truly believe this marks a turning point in our wine sector's history.'
The money used to fund distillation subsidies will be redirected to wine promotion and the modernisation of vineyards and cellars.

The New World has seen its share of global wine sales rise from 3% in 1990 to 30% in 2008, according to the OIV.

 

Judging wine at the Southwest Vineyards Association competition

Jamie Goode’s Blog 4 September 2009

 

I've been down in Exeter today judging the Southwest Vineyards Association competition. We had a great panel of judges, and spent the day assessing almost 100 wines, of which more than half received a medal or commendation.

 

I'm very happy with the results we came to. It was an experienced panel of judges, and we were in quite good concordance for most of the wines. Where we weren't, we then went back and looked at the wine again, and had some discussion. It was really civilizd.

 

The standard of entries was really good overall. Very few wines were faulty or unpleasant, and there were a few that were lovely. In particular, some of the sparkling wines really impressed, as did many of the dry whites. The red flight had the highest incidence of problems, with a few of the wines showing volatility, reduction or brettanomyces.

 

We were at Kenton Vineyard, which is a relatively new venture: the vineyard was first planted in 2003 by Matthew and Jo Bernstein.

 

More thoughts on panel tastings

Jamie Goode’s Blog 6 September 2009

More thoughts on panels, prompted by yesterday’s judging experiences.

There are some levels of discrimination of quality where, irrespective of biological differences, personal preferences and cultural likings or dislikes, a panel of experienced tasters can reasonably hope to agree on broad-brush ratings of wines. [I’m thinking here of whether a wine is worthy of a bronze, silver or gold medal in a competition.]

These sorts of panels are good at filtering out poor or badly made wines, but can lack discrimination at the higher end. We were averaging points (on the 20 point scale) yesterday, and that makes it quite hard to get silver medals, and very hard to get golds – especially if you are using 18.5/20 as your benchmark for gold as in the Australian show system.

For this reason, the benchmark for gold was set lower at 17/20, with silver 15.5 and bronze 14. These may sound low, but they are realistic when you consider the way that averaging marks tends to bring down the overall score considerably.

To come up with sensible results, some level of conferring is necessary after each flight, to make sure that every wine is given a fair chance to get the medal it deserves. We found that we agreed on the majority of the wines (perhaps with one outlier out of the six), but some wines seemed to split opinion somewhat. We went back to these to reassess them.

The quality of the tasters is really important. One or two ‘random’ tasters in a panel can really mess up the results.

Panels like these can lose their effectiveness when dealing with the highest quality wines. While they serve a useful purpose in rating commercial wines, panels (and averaging scores) don’t work well for fine wine. They end up creating too many anomalies.

 

Kunst für den Wein

Vinothek Wagner

 

„Kunst bereichert unser Leben. Sie beeinflusst unser Gemüt durch Ästhetik und Schönheit. Kunstwerke sagen etwas aus, prägen den Raum, strahlen Energie aus“, so der Südtiroler Qualitätswinzer Alois Lageder.

Er vertritt seit Jahrzehnten eine naturnahe, umweltschonende, nachhaltige und ganzheitliche Philosophie der Weinproduktion. Er arbeitet biodynamisch, versorgt sein Weingut mit selbst erzeugtem Strom aus einer Photovoltaik-Anlage und – er fördert zeitgenössische Kunst.

Bereits ab Mitte der 1990er-Jahre, zeitgleich mit der Neugestaltung seines Weingutes Ansitz Löwengang in Margreid, begann er gemeinsam mit seiner Frau, der Choreographin Veronika Lageder, die Themen Kunst, Musik und Wein sichtbar miteinander zu verflechten.

So lud Lageder renommierte Künstler zur Schaffung moderner Werke auf das Weingut ein, vergab Aufträge für zeitgenössische Musikkompositionen und Uraufführungen im Rahmen des Projekts VIN-o-TON und ließ neue Etiketten für seine Klassischen Weine (z. B. Chardonnay, Lagrein, Pinot Grigio, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Bianco) gestalten.

 

Der Geist des Ortes

Lageder: „Alle Kunstwerke, die bei uns entstehen, nehmen Bezug auf den Geist des Ortes und auf die Philosophie der nachhaltige Entwicklung. Die Kunstwerke sollen die Philosophie des Weingutes ausdrücken, aus diesem heraus entstehen, von diesem inspiriert sein. Deshalb laden wir die Künstler ein, einen Tag bei uns zu verbringen, um ein Gefühl für den Ort zu bekommen.“

Die neuen Etiketten sollten die Verbindung zwischen Natur und Mensch, aus der ja die Weine entstehen, für die Kunden schon beim Betrachten der Flasche erkennbar machen.

Von Anfang war klar: Es sollten keine vordergründigen „Künstleretiketten“ werden. Vielmehr sollten die elementare Teile des Weines in einer subtilen, symbolhaften, durch zeitgenössische Kunst interpretierten Form zum Ausdruck gebracht werden.

 

Organischer Zyklus

Bei ihrem Aufenthalt auf dem Weingut konnten die Künstler die Menschen, die Weingärten, den Keller und die Weine kennenlernen, Eindrücke sammeln und daraus Inspiration schöpfen.

So entstand schließlich als Endergebnis eine Art „organischer Zyklus“, der die Elemente Licht, Boden, Rebe, Mensch und Wein zu einem Ganzen zusammenführt.

• Elisabeth Hölzl thematisiert das Thema Licht, das durch ein Gitter fällt: Das Etikett mit seiner Lochstruktur verweist auf die Durchlässigkeit des Bodens im Weingarten, die Semitransparenz des Weinblattes, den Austausch von Luft und Licht zwischen Himmel und Erde.

• Mario Airò stellt die Symbiose zwischen Boden und Wein auf seinem Etikett dar – in Form einer sogenannten Frottage, eines graphischen Durchschreibeverfahrens, bei dem Strukturen und Konturen der rauen Oberfläche von Steinen aus dem Weingarten als Graphitabdruck auf Papier dargestellt werden.

• Eva Marisaldi wählt einen Teil der Rebe – ein stilisiertes Weinblatt, dessen Stängel wie ein Tropfen die Flasche herabfließt und dessen zarte Adern die Empfindsamkeit der Natur ausdrücken.

• Marcello Maloberti zeigt auf seinem Etikett in abstrahierter Form die Handlinien der Menschen, die auf dem Weingut arbeiten. Dies symbolisiert einen Händedruck, ein Versprechen, eine erntente Hand, eine Verbindung zwischen den Weinproduzenten und den Kunden.

• Luca Vitone schließlich bildet den Wein selbst ab: als Materie, Idee, Wesen, als zartes farbiges Aquarell, als Gemälde.

Alois Lageder: „Diese Etiketten sollen die Persönlichkeit unserer Klassischen Weine hervorheben, und all jenen unsere Absicht und unsere Arbeitsweise vermitteln, die die Flasche öffenen und ihren Inhalt genießen werden.“

 

 

SurePure technology approved in South Africa

September 2, 2009 Decanter, Richard Woodard

South Africa has become the first country to approve a new hi-tech process which uses light energy to purify wine – and claims to dramatically reduce the need to add sulphur.

The SurePure system transmits ultra-violet energy to deactivate microbes found in liquids, eliminating potential harmful effects by stopping the microbes from replicating.

The process, already used in the juice, dairy and beverage industries, claims to have no residual effect on the wine itself. It also claims to 'dramatically decrease' the need to add sulphur, which has been blamed by some for allergic reactions when drinking wine.

Franschhoek wine estate L'Ormarins has already selectively employed the technology in winemaking during the 2009 vintage, but now it has been approved for use by the South African Wine & Spirit Board.

A board spokesperson said it supported the concept, and would now recommend to South Africa's Agriculture Ministry that it should amend the regulations of the Liquor Product Act.

'This underscores the South African wine authorities' commitment to ensuring that new technology is placed at the disposal of local winemakers, enabling them to compete globally at levels of excellence,' the board added.

SurePure marketing executive Steve Miller said companies like SurePure had the opportunity to change the world – 'once the food industry politics have been sorted out'.

Bordeaux wine producers reduce pesticide use by 80% in two years

http://www.fleshandstone.net/healthandsciencenews/1644.html?print

 

Saint-Émilion vineyards. Bordeaux, France. Michael Cosgrove

Great news for Bordeaux wine fans who appreciate a clean environment along with their Grand Cru. The other good news is that this year’s vintage promises to be exceptional.

“Reduce pesticide use by 50 percent.” That was the challenge thrown to Bordeaux wine producers by French president Nicolas Sarkozy in October 2007 during national consultations on environmental issues, reports French daily Le Figaro.

The producers were given 10 years to reach that objective but they have already exceeded it after just two harvests.

“We have reduced insecticide and herbicide use by 80 percent and we no longer have to treat vines against parasitic insects and mites,” announced Etienne Priou, the director of Château Beaumont, a major producer situated in Cussac-Fort-Médoc. He made his announcement during an organized visit by members of the Union of Industries for Plant Protection (UIPP) during which he also confirmed that neither the quality or quantity of the 700,000 bottles of Bordeaux which Château Beamont produces each year have suffered in any way.

Looking at Priou’s immaculate grapes makes it difficult to imagine the ravages that mildew and parasites like the fruit tree tordrix (Archips Podana) or Botrytis can cause. These three infernal imports from other parts of the world have caused much damage over the years.

Thierry Coulon, scientific director of the French Institute of vineyards and Wine (IFWW) says that “In the Bordeaux region, mildew is public enemy number one. If it attacks early, in spring, it can destroy entire harvests, as was the case in 2007.” To demonstrate his point he showed the visitors a shriveled vine stump which had fallen victim to mildew.

In order to protect his vineyards whilst at the same time reducing environmental impact to a minimum, Priou, along with a hundred other Bordeaux producers, decided to apply the principles of Integrated Farm Management which in his view represent a reasonable compromise between two extremes – all-chemical or all-bio.

The French version of the Integrated Farm Management concept was launched with the creation of a website forum dedicated to the development of agricultural practices which respect the environment and are economically viable.

Three basic principles underpin the concept: The use of biological and culture-based products in the fight against parasites, treating only if and when absolutely necessary, and accepting minor losses which do not incur significant negative economic consequences.

Priou and the other producers stepped up inspection rounds of their vineyards and, in the event that mildew was discovered in small quantities, it was treated immediately with natural products before it could spread. That tactic reduced mildew by 20 percent for mildew and even 30 percent for botrytis, which is particularly damaging to the taste of wine.

The fruit tree tordrix was tackled using pheromone traps which eliminated the need for chemical insecticides. Finally, ground fertilizer use was limited to a strict minimum due to the use of more detailed soil and leaf analyses.

There is not yet a general inclination to produce strictly bio wine in the Bordeaux region. Philip Blanc is the director of Château Beychevelle at Saint-Julien, and he has been carrying out trials of wine produced using strictly bio techniques for the last two years on a small section of his property.

He said that although last year “wasn’t too bad” this year has seen a serious outbreak of mildew which means that the bio section of his vineyards will produce 36 hectolitres per hectare. That translates into 35 pe cent less wine than the rest of the vineyards, upon which he has used an Integrated Farm Management program. The problem there is that the minimum profitable yield is 47 hectolitres per hectare.

So, although the Bordeaux region is not going to see mass-produced bio wine anytime soon, it can’t be denied that a lot of progress has been made in terms of the development of environmentally safer wine-producing techniques.

Oh, and Nicolas Sarkozy? He owes the wine producers of Bordeaux a generous round of drinks for their efforts.